Graveyard wrecked by yobs

The pair caused up to 25,000 of damage to gravestones at the Mount Vernon Cemetery in Liberton.

The two men were apparently apprehended by police after a local resident found they had fled into his garden shortly after the incident took place at 11pm on Wednesday night.

But they were released at the scene by officers as the graveyard damage had not yet been discovered.

The graveyard's foreman, William Henderson, 39, said he was appalled at the extent of the damage.

He said: "I've been here 13 years and nothing like this has ever happened before.

"We came into work on Thursday morning and my colleague phoned the office from across the yard and said you'd better come and see this.

"You can tell they've just walked down the path and knocked over the graves indiscriminately.

"I estimated the damage could be 20,000-25,000."

He added that the local resident, who lives on the other side of the wall that borders the cemetery, said that he had caught the two men, who he thought to be drunk, after they jumped over his wall at around 11.30pm.

Mr Henderson said: "When the guy challenged them apparently they said 'We're only taking a shortcut, it's hardly like we're kicking down gravestones'.

"The neighbour said that one guy was walking with a limp.

"He called the police and they apprehended them, but they let them go because he didn't want to press charges and we didn't find out what happened until the next morning."

Scotland's most senior Catholic, Cardinal Keith O'Brien laid his mother Alice to rest there during the 1950s.

A police spokeswoman confirmed that two men had been spoken to by police after being found in a nearby garden.

A police spokesperson added: "This is a shocking act of disrespect, and will no doubt cause distress to a number of families, and the total cost of the damage caused could reach thousands of pounds.

"We are appealing for anyone who may have seen something suspicious to get in touch."

The incident comes just days after justice secretary Kenny Macaskill launched a pilot scheme which will see low level offenders working to restore fallen grave stones in nearby Liberton Cemetery.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Cemeteries should be a place of quiet reflection, a place to pay your respects and to remember loved ones lost.

"Unfortunately, the scene at many cemeteries in Edinburgh, and more widely across Scotland, is one of fallen, broken or vandalised headstones. That is unacceptable, it's a bugbear of many communities up and down the country."